Intravascular optical-resolution photoacoustic tomography with a 1.1 mm diameter catheter

Xiaosong Bai; Xiaojing Gong; William Hau; Riqiang Lin; Jiaxiang Zheng; Chengbo Liu; Chengzhi Zeng; Xin Zou; Hairong Zheng; Liang Song

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092463

Intravascular optical-resolution photoacoustic tomography with a 1.1 mm diameter catheter

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 20;9(3):e92463. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092463. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Research Lab for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Shenzhen Key Lab for Molecular Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
² Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ Research Lab for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Shenzhen Key Lab for Molecular Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China; Beijing Center for Mathematics and Information Interdisciplinary Sciences (BCMIIS), Beijing, China.
⁴ Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging technology that can provide anatomic, functional, and molecular information about biological tissue. Intravascular spectroscopic and molecular photoacoustic imaging can potentially improve the identification of atherosclerotic plaque composition, the detection of inflammation, and ultimately the risk stratification of atherosclerosis. In this study, a first-of-its-kind intravascular optical-resolution photoacoustic tomography (OR-PAT) system with a 1.1 mm diameter catheter is developed, offering optical-diffraction limited transverse resolution as fine as 19.6 μm, ∼ 10-fold finer than that of conventional intravascular photoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging. To offer complementary imaging information and depth, the system also acquires co-registered intravascular ultrasound images in parallel. Imaging of an iliac stent and a lipid phantom shows that the high resolution and contrast of OR-PAT can enable improved stent implantation guidance and lipid identification. In the future, these capabilities may ultimately improve the diagnosis and interventional treatment of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, which are prone to cause thrombotic complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Atherosclerosis / diagnosis
Cardiovascular Diseases / diagnosis
Humans
Photoacoustic Techniques / instrumentation
Photoacoustic Techniques / methods*
Tomography, Optical / instrumentation
Tomography, Optical / methods*
Ultrasonography, Interventional / methods
Vascular Access Devices*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the following funds: 1. Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee grants: CXZZ-2012-0617113635-699, ZDSY-2013-0401165820-357, KQCX-2012-0816155844-962, and JCYJ-2012-0615125857-842 (www.szsti.gov.cn) 2. National Natural Science Foundation of China grant: 61205203 (www.nsfc.gov.cn) 3. National Key Basic Research (973) Program of China: 2014CB744503 (http://www.973.gov.cn/Default_3.aspx) 4. International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China: 2014DFG32800 (http://www.istcp.org.cn/) 5. Guangdong Innovation Research Team Fund for Low-cost Healthcare Technologies (GIRTF-LCHT) (http://cxtd.gdstc.gov.cn/) 6. Low-cost Health Engineering Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [2011] (http://www.cas.cn/) The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.